Hitotsu ni suru
by Riniko22
Summary: What if Ranma was brought into the Naruto universe after Naruto ripped a rift between the two universes by using a different technique to defeat Mizuki that had disasterous results.
1. Chapter 1

Author: Riniko22

Notes: The Characters and Places within this story are not mine, and remain the property of their respected owners. As such, I do not own them, nor am I making any money off them. So sad, very tragic tale of a penniless author that fell into the spring of ….

The characters in this story will likely not react the same as in cannon (written or video), so don't flame me about this. Some will have grown up with different influences on them leading them to react in different ways.

Advice is welcome. I will continue the story to its end, and I have several other ideals in the works after this one or during breaks between chapters. I hate seeing stories that are dropped and never finished.

Hitotsu ni suru

We all know the start of the Naruto story where Naruto is tricked into stealing the Forbidden Scroll and learns the high level Ninjutsu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and defeats Mizuki. But, what if this was not the only technique that Naruto learned and this was not the one that he used to defeat Mizuki. What if he tried another technique, one that he had not perfected and made a tragic mistake that would rip the fabric of their universes at the same time that another individual was using a final technique to kill a minor godling in another universe? With the two universes tied together and the two being ripped part from the tidal forces unleashed both Naruto and Ranma are dying, refusing to give up the Kyuubi grabs hold of this other life-force fusing the two together to save her life, even if it is as a prisoner within this new body.

Naruto's Side

"Don't you dare touch Iruka Sensei or I will kill you," Naruto defiantly screamed as he stepped into the line of fire between the wounded Iruka and the treasonous Mizuki.

"Shut your trap punk," Mizuki sneered back, "So, you even think you have a chance against me you little shit! I'm going to enjoy killing you and that demon loving loser. No one will care that your dead, no one."

"Try it you piece of trash! I'm going to make you wish you had never been born," yelled Naruto as he began a quick series of hand signs and shouted out, "Solar Fire no Jutsu!"

As the words left Naruto's mouth, the very air began to burn around the pair and Mizuki began to scream as his very flesh began to blacken and peel away from the intense heat. Then his very body seemed to burst into flames as Mizuki's very own chakra began to feed the flames as they burst outward engulfing the area.

"Naruto, stop feeding the Jutsu," screamed Iruka as he began to crawl backwards away from the intense heat. The ground began to blacken and smoke around the two figures still trapped within the growing sphere of death.

"I can't stop it Iruka Sensei! I can feel the heat around me, pulling at me. Make it stop! Please Sensei, I can feel it reaching out to me," screamed Naruto. It wasn't supposed to happen like this thought Naruto; I'm supposed to become the Hokage!

"Fight it, Naruto! Close the chakra drain down before it is too late."

Within Naruto's mind, the Kyuubi began to awaken from her slumber. Feeling the increasing drain on her chakra, she expanded her senses outward to take in what was happening around them. With this came understanding of what was taking place, while at the same time she started to scream into Naruto's mind, "Release the seal Kit!" Sensing that the child was panicking and did not understand her commands she began to speak into his mind in a gentler fashion to try to lessen his panic, "Close your eyes Kit and rip the seal from the bars, it is the only way I will be able to stop the drain."

"I can't! I can't let you be released. I'll die before I become you! I will not become what everyone has always thought of me!"

"No, I swear Kit! I will only do what it takes to save us. You have to set me free, it is feeding off my power. If you don't release me it will not stop with us, the energy it gets from me will burn the Fire country to a crisp! I swear on my name that I will just do what I have to save us all and go back."

As this conversation was taking place within Naruto's mind, the runaway Jutsu began to feed upon more of the Kyuubi's vast stores of chakra. Causing the flames to begin to flare higher around Naruto as the clothes that had been protected by his own body's chakra field began to smolder and burn. Naruto could feel that his body was fighting a losing battle trying to repair itself from the mounting damage, while having to endure the increasingly mounting chakra drain.

Iruka could do nothing, but back away from the increasingly expanding flames, fearing that Naruto was already consumed and that he would be the next to die. His last thought before the ground seemed to disappear from underneath him and all went painfully dark was that he had only wanted to protect Naruto from being hurt when he failed him in the genin exam; he felt that he was the one that had failed Naruto instead.

The flaming inferno that was Naruto began to flare ever higher and brighter as the seconds pasted. "I release you. I release you to stop the fire. Stop it all."

It was at this point that the blue-white flames around Naruto flashed like a newborn sun. Turning the night into day around the helpless boy and rippling a burning hole though the very fabric of reality around them.

However, for the being that was the Kyuubi that was an eternity and a heartbeat in time. Much could be done and she had to bleed away the excess energy that the corrupted jutsu had stolen from her. She felt another burst of energy from another fracture in the fabric of reality that could be used to counter the energy pulled from her. She just had to reach out to it and pull it in.

Ranma's Side

The pain Ranma was feeling was incredibly excruciating as wave after wave of searing energy poured off Saffron body baking and searing Ranma's flesh from his body. While at the same time, this same energy seemed to hang in the air freezing him to his very core. But, still he would not allow himself to give in to the mad Phoenix King; Ranma Saotome never gave up, not now not ever. Digging deeper into the well of confidence and determination that make up the core of Ranma's being, he forced himself to fire off the most powerful Moko Takabisha that he had ever attempted. There would be no other way to protect his friends and family behind him. He had to end this fight now or they never would be able to get Akane bathed in the sacred water that feed the Jusenkyo springs in time to save her life.

But, Ranma felt that luck was with him for once in his life as that last Moko Takabisha blast had ripped clean through the Phoenix King's defenses. He had blasted Saffron violently backwards and clean through the base of the Dragon Tap both destroying it and releasing the trapped water of Jusenkyo. The highly pressurized water was now released allowing the water to spray freely outward over the entire cavern and bathing all those within with its magical waters. The effects of this were two fold as the released waters caused all those under the cursed influence of the springs of Jusenkyo to be forced into their cursed form and to release Akane from her doll form before it was too late.

The destruction of the Dragon Tap unfortunately had also served to drive Saffron over the blink of madness as he realized that he would never be able to have the damage repaired as his ancestors had adapted everything in the cavern from a now lost to time civilization. With little rational thought left, the heavily battered Saffron picked himself up and flew up into the air planning on driving the Kinjakan clean through Ranma's body.

Seeing that Saffron was currently distracted having focused all his attention on Ranma, the rest of the heavily battered rescue party grabbed Akane's unconscious body and proceeded to retreat expecting Ranma to follow.

Ranma pulled herself up weakly from the floor from where she had fallen after having hit Saffron with that last Moko Takabisha blast, leaving behind some of her baked flesh that had stuck to the floor. The only thing keeping her still standing being her overpowering determination, she seemed to be bracing herself with the Gekkaja to meet Saffron's attack when it came. Just before Saffron could drive the Kinjakan into her body, she slipped to the side of Saffron's attack and plunged the Gekkaja into Saffron body forced all of Saffron's barely contained energy to be released. This wild energy reacting with the magic's of the Gekkaja tore a small hole into the fabric of this universe.

Kyuubi

Kyuubi reached out with her now freed energy, grabbing hold of the Gekkaja and pulled it and those close to it safely through the warp in space, saving Phoenix Mountain from becoming ground zero. Realizing that she had pulled more that she had planned through the rift, she quickly redirected the energies to countering Naruto's wild Jutsu, while protecting and bolstering the failing life force of her unintended guests.

During the microseconds that preceded the final stages of the suicide solar jutsu that Naruto had mistakenly used against Mizuki the Kyuubi had succeed in countering its full effects. However, she was finding that Naruto had suffered injuries that were too extensive to repair as his life force had been used partially to empower the jutsu he had used. There were also the other two humans that she had pulled through the tear in space when she grabbed hold of the Gekkaja's energies. The male was all but dead, his body and life force being in worse shape than any of the other three. The girl was the puzzle, she was extensively damaged having injuries that would guarantee that she could not possible survive, while at the same time her life force blazed like a small sun. There was only one thing to do, she would save the girl and what remained of Naruto by fusing their essence together so as to both honor her pledge to the Kit and the debt that she owed the girl by pulling her through the rift.

Ranma

Ranma heard a voice; a female voice, which sounded much like her mother's in the warm comforting feelings it was giving her, but it was not one that Ranma knew. Strangely she did not seem to be hearing it through her ears, but from inside her head.

"Well kit, I have got good news and some bad news, I've healed the injuries to your body and mind. You had a lot of damage, but I was able to return both to better than their original condition."

"What do you mean better?"

"Well you had a lot of new and old injuries to both your body and mind. The newer physical injuries that I found you in would have killed you outright, soon after you arrived. While the older physical injuries that had been repaired by your body would have eventuality caused you great pain and severely limited your mobility in your old age. The odd part to me was the curses that seemed to be attached to your spirit, it took me quite awhile to untangle the threads but you will never be affected by them again."

"That's great, now I'll never change into a girl again. I'm free!"

"What are you talking about?"

"The curses, you said there was no trace left of them. I'll never change into a girl again after being splashed with water."

"OK, Kit, I've got some good news and some more bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"

With a sense of growing trepidation, I asked the speaker to tell me everything that she was talking about.

"Well Kit, you don't mind that I call you Kit do you? I don't know your name yet, and I think of you as almost family now."

"No, that OK, I have been called much worse in my life. My name is Ranma Saotome, heir to the Saotome family's style of Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu kenpo."

"Well Kit, I removed several odd curses from your body or more appropriately I removed your life-force from your old body and placed it within the improved body that I created based on what remained of your old body. This seemed to have had the effect of permanently disrupting all the curses that were attached to you. I also, repaired the damage that had been done to your mind by some truly odd techniques when I began to merge your life force into your new bodily home. And I found the former tenant of your mind to be quite a delectable dish."

"Are you saying what I think you are saying that you have removed the cat spirit from my mind?"

"Yes, that is exactly what I said, there could be only one of us here and it did not stand a chance between the two of us."

"What? You mean that now that you're in my mind? That the cat is gone?"

"Isn't that what I said before? I sometimes don't understand you humans at all; you seem to have the hardest time following the simplest of conversations. However, you are young and over time, you will learn under my care, as we will be together for a very long time. I am now bound to you as I was before and am still bound with my Kit, Naruto."

"What do you mean by bound and still bound?"

"I mean that I am sealed within your body and mind, the former body and mind of my previous host. I was able to save your life force to inhabit this body and was able to rebuild it to make us both more comfortable this one time by absorbing and using the excess mass and energies left over by your fallen foe and merge you with my lost Kit. I will grieve for him more fully later, but he has not been fully lost to us. Over time you will integrate what could be saved into your mind gaining the knowledge and understanding of this world to survive here without having to rely completely on my telling you what you need to know."

"You mean that I have this other boy's mind in my head too? I don't feel or remember anything different and why am I so calm about all this? I should be panicking over just part of what you have told me."

"That would be true, but I am suppressing your panic for the moment while you are here with me. I will release you in time; don't worry that I will be in control of you all the time. I am only able to do this now because you are still new in this body and that I had promised the Kit that I would relinquish my control when everything is safe again. Soon you and what remains of my Kit will be one and I will once again be bound by the seals that once tied me and will again. I swear that I will never hurt you as you will once again be my adopted child and my jailor."

Well what do you think? Different? I got the ideal into my head two weeks ago to do a Ranma x Naruto crossover, but I was not planning on doing it so soon. It was the brain freeze that I was having while writing on my first story that forced me to start writing this. I am hoping that being able to release my creative juices on this story will allow me to get back to my first child. Once again, I want to thank all of you that read this far and doubly those that honor me with a review of my work.

1/29/12 - Did some minor editing to correct incorrect word choices that seem to have gotten past my first and second read through, and those that read the story since it was posted. I will continue to do corrections as I work my way to my last posting to re-familiarize myself with the story before I pick-up writing the new chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

Author: Riniko22

Notes: The Characters and Places within this story are not mine, and remain the property of their respected owners. As such, I do not own them, nor am I making any money off of them. So sad, very tragic tale of a penniless author that fell into the spring of drowned ….

The characters in this story will likely not react the same as in cannon (written or video), so don't flame me about this. Some will have grown up with different influences on them leading them to react in different ways.

Advice is welcome. I will continue the story to its end, and I have several other ideals in the works after this one or during breaks between chapters. I hate seeing stories that are dropped and never finished.

Hitotsu ni suru

Short Flashback:

"You mean that I have this other boy's mind in my head too? I don't feel or remember anything different and why am I so calm about all this? I should be panicking over just part of what you have told me."

"That would be true, but I am suppressing your panic for the moment while you are here with me. I will release you in time; don't worry that I will be in control of you all the time. I am only able to do this now because you are still new in this body and that I had promised the Kit that I would relinquish my control when everything is safe again. Soon you and what remains of my Kit will be one and I will once again be bound by the seals that once tied me and will again. I swear that I will never hurt you as you will once again be my adopted child and my jailor."

Chapter 2

"What do you mean by jailor?"

"I mean that I have been sealed inside of you, or rather I had been sealed inside of Naruto, by the Forth Hokage."

"Wait? I don't understand. Why would you be sealed inside of Naruto and what or who is the Hokage. And can you tell me your name I don't even know what to call you or what you look like for that matter."

"Oh, I am so sorry Kit; I seemed to have forgotten to tell you my name during all the excitement. You can call me Kyuubi, the nine-tailed fox, I am a very powerful fox spirit or Kitsune, but you will hear other names for me that are not so kind soon enough. But, the reason I was sealed away was to protect the village of Konoha from my wrath. I had mistakenly attacked the village after having been tricked into thinking they were behind the attack on my kits," it was at this point that she paused for a time and Ranma could feel the pain and sadness that seemed to be radiating from where he could sense her presence.

This was difficult for Ranma, she could feel that Kyuubi was in deep pain remembering her loss, but she was unsure about how to comfort her. Ranma had never been very good at communicating her feelings or knowing the correct thing to say to someone to ease their pain. Just thinking about it had her thinking back on her relationship with Akane and how that had turned out. She hated her weakness, yes weakness, she could recognize it for what it was now, no thanks to the stupid panda. Being able to express your feelings, recognize another's pain and comfort them was not a sign of weakness like her father had taught her. No, it was a strength that she had been denied from her and now once again it was causing her to feel weak because she did not know what to do to ease it, but she had to try.

"I … I … I'm sorry," Ranma finally managed to stammer out, hating herself for such a weak answer to Kyuubi pain. But, she was surprised by Kyuubi's response to her feeble attempt to reach out. She could feel the sadness and pain ease slightly, and after a time a feeling of amusement seemed to fill the air. Feeling confused, Ranma blurted out, "What do you find so funny, I was trying to be nice!"

"No, no, Kit you misunderstand. I do feel better now, a bit, it is just that what you said and how you said it, reminded me very much of someone else. She is very sweet and always tries so hard to speak to Naruto, but like you, she has a hard time expressing her emotions. However, sadly Naruto was never able to see that, no matter how obvious it was. I think that you would like her; she is like you a little, being unable to express herself. But, you could help her with her confidence in herself. Now, I need to get back to explaining about myself and why you are here."

"As I had said, I attacked Konoha in retaliation for the murder of my children, if I had been thinking clearly at the time I would have known something was wrong about the bodies I found in the den. However, I was enraged and blindly went after what I thought were the killers. I only understood the depth of my mistake too late and only after the Forth had started the seal. It was during this time that our minds touched and we both learned that we had both been tricked, but the Forth, Naruto's father, was able to change the seal slightly and allow me to contact Naruto and sense the world around him. For that small kindness and because of his sacrifice I vowed to try to protect his child as my own."

"Kyuubi, you said earlier that you rebuilt my body can't you rebuild it again as a male body?"

"No Ranma, it's not that I don't want to but, I can't. I was only able to work around the rules of the seal that binds me this time because Naruto had released me and I was saving his life in a way. There is also two other reasons Ranma, when I was rebuilding Naruto's body to house you, I was using your female body as a template. I have no way to recreate your male body, because I don't have anything to go on and I don't have all the excess energy and matter that I had before."

"What, do you mean this is permanent?"

"I'm sorry Ranma, but I honestly thought that was your real form when you arrived. It's not like you run into a girl that's really a boy everyday you know. And, I did work to make your new life easier to fit into by giving you access to Naruto's memories. I also, learned from the mistakes I had make when I was first thrust into Naruto's body. I make sure that your body does not bare any of the signs of being my vessel that Naruto's did. I regretted marking him so many times during his childhood, but I did not know that everything was just a mistake until after the Forth's mind had touched mine, and by then it was much too late to reverse the markings. With you, it was like a gift, your hair was already so close to my own in color that it seemed enough. In addition, your age was very close to Naruto's own, being so young the village will be more trusting of you. You will have no trouble growing up within the village."

"What do you mean by so young? I'm almost eighteen now, how old do you have to be here to be an adult?"

"Oh, I thought that you were younger than that, in fact I thought that you were roughly Naruto's age of twelve, you were so small it was hard to tell for sure. If it's any consolidation Ranma, your new body will have several more years of growth, so you will grow to be about average height or a little more."

"Is there any other good news that you have for me? I don't know if I could handle much more."

"No, Ranma that's it for now. I can only tell you that over the next few days you will begin to integrate Naruto's memories into your own. This will happen usually as you sleep, but don't be surprised by recognizing things that would seem strange to you otherwise. And, I will be there to help you as I can. I expect that the village will have many questions for you when you awaken, I would suggest that you pretend ignorance until you understand what is going on around you."

"Oh, don't worry about that. I can play that role to a tee, I've had lots of practice and right now I truly don't understand anything that's going on."

"Well I will leave you for now Ranma, but don't worry I will be there when you need me. I just need to rest for now, I used a lot of energy earlier and I believe that both of us will be asleep for quite some time. I suspect that when you awaken you will be in a hospital bed with a guard near by, your arrival and the disappearance of Naruto and Mizuki in the middle of all this will be very strange to them. However, your apparent age will go a long way to lessening their suspicions. Good night Ranma," and with those last words Ranma could feel Kyuubi's presence fade back, leaving her alone to her own thoughts until she drifted off to sleep herself.

Ranma was in Hell. She knew she was in hell because she was a girl and if what she heard was correct, she was going to be a girl from now on. There was no changing back, the curse was gone, the energy in it burned up in helping to create her new body. She couldn't complain, well she couldn't or shouldn't complain too much, as her other option it seemed had been death. With that as a second choice to this she should feel grateful to be alive, but damn-it why did it have to be as a girl. It seemed that she was destined to be a girl and that the universe was just trying to correct a huge cosmic mistake, it just refused to care how she felt about the situation and take that into account. The worst part about the whole thing was that she couldn't honestly be mad with Kyuubi about it. If Saffron's power had been released all at one time when his body had been pierced by the Gekkaja then the entire mountain would have blown up and killed Akane and everyone else that she cared about. But, damn-it it still did not seem fair. Well, no one had ever promised her that life would be fair. Hell, if there was one thing in Ranma's life that she knew for sure it was that. After all, she was Ranma Saotome, son of Genma and Nodoka Saotome, if being the son (well now daughter) of those two nut cases were not enough to teach her that lesson then she would never have learned it.

Next time, Ranma awakens to a new world. A stranger in a strange land.

Hope to hear more from you about how the story is progressing and I hope this new story is a growth from my first. I will be get back to that when the muse hits me again. For now, she is being very pushy about getting this one out.


	3. Chapter 3

Author: Riniko22

Notes: The Characters and Places within this story are not mine, and remain the property of their respected owners. As such, I do not own them, nor am I making any money off them. So sad, very tragic tale of a penniless author that fell into the spring of drowned ….

The characters in this story will likely not act the same as in cannon (written or video), so don't flame me about this. Some will have grown up with different influences on them leading them to react in different ways.

Advice is always welcome. I will continue the story to its end, and I have several other ideals in the works after this one or during breaks between chapters. I hate seeing stories that are dropped and never finished.

Hitotsu ni suru

Chapter 3

In the Hokage's office, Sarutobi the Third Hokage, could only watch helplessly as the tragic events transpiring before him took place. He had finally located Naruto though the use of the scrying crystal, and then dispatched a squad of ANBU to assist in retrieving Naruto and the Forbidden Scroll. He had thought that the matter had been quickly and quietly resolved only to be sadly mistaken when he saw Iruka and then Mizuki enter the clearing. With mounting anger, he had then watched as Mizuki admitted his betrayal of his position. Then compound his treasonous actions my telling Naruto why the villagers hate him so much.

He had then proudly watched as Naruto, his young friend, stepped in front of the downed Iruka to protect him after receiving this painful news. But, his ever present pipe soon fell from his lips as he watched in growing horror as Naruto initiated the hand signs for a forbidden jutsu, a jutsu that had been declared too dangerous to ever be used, the Suicidal Solar no Jutsu.

Sarutobi knew what that dangerous jutsu could do, that Naruto would die defending Iruka and that he would be taking the treasonous bastard Mizuki with him. However, this knowledge offered cold comfort to him; he knew that he had failed the Forth Hokage; his student, his friend, and Naruto's father. He had thought that by hiding Naruto's past from him that he had protected the boy, a boy that he loved like a son. He now saw that had been wrong. Naruto would be paying the price for his mistakes; a price the boy had not known would be required. And, far worse than that, the wild and unstopped jutsu would be taking the whole village with him as he could see that the jutsu was not stopping with only the chakra of Mizuki and Naruto. It had tapped into the near limitless demonic chakra of the Kyuubi, the Nine Tailed Fox. He knew the end had come when he had to turn away from the crystal when it flashed a brilliant blue-white.

When his eyes cleared, the Third realized that the resulting massive chakra explosion following the bright flash must have instantly killed him. He was sure that he was dead, and that he was going to be paying for this mistake for eternity, as here in the afterlife he could see that his desk was covered with mountains of paperwork. He had hoped for an end with his death, but he was resigned to his fate with his failure in life with Naruto. Then he was pulled from these thoughts when he looked down to the scrying crystal. Before him was a scene of destruction, a blasted area of smoking earth with a naked body lying in its center, a body that was very clearly not Naruto's.

When one of the dispatched ANBU teams finally arrived near the clearing, they found a ring of destroyed trees facing outward from the center surrounded it. Venturing forward into the still smoking blast zone, they found the central area to be scorched clean to the ground, except for a small body. The leader of this three-member squad signaled the other two members of her squad to flank the body on either side, as she cautiously moved toward the body wary of traps. With each step forward, she could hear her feet loudly crunching down into the dried earth and leaving puffs of powdered soil billowing up in the air behind her. Reaching the center of the blast zone, she could see in the moonlight that the body was that of a healthy young girl with long auburn hair. And, that the child could not be more than twelve to fourteen years old at the outside.

Bending down to carefully inspect the young girl, the owl masked ANBU was surprised to find that the child had no apparent injuries, not even a mark from the intense heat radiating from the still smoldering earth. The child's breathing and heart rated seemed to be slow and regular; she concluded that the unconscious child was just passed out recovering from the effects of chakra exhaustion. Pulling off her cloak, she draped it over the child and directed the nearer of her two subordinates, a hawk masked man to watch over the girl. As she signaled the other, in a cat mask to follow her as she searched for other signs of survivors or bodies in the area. With the arrival of the remaining ANBU squads, they were able to broaden the search range. Quickly, finding the heavily injured Iruka with the missing scroll sprawled unconscious in a small dry creek bed buried under some debris.

Ranma was floating in a sea of memories, seeing bits and pieces of another boy's life. She was sickened as she watched the young Naruto struggle desperately for acceptance from the very people that owed him their life. She could see that Naruto had lived a harsher life than even her own under her pop's training. Naruto had had no one to take care of him; at least she had the stupid panda. She had been trained to be the best by her old man, while Naruto had been lied to by most of his teachers. For the first time she could see that, there were worse fates than being the son, no daughter now, of Genma Saotome.

However, as bad as watching second hand the events of Naruto's life were, there were worse things to come. As she drifted through Naruto's memories, she would sometimes adsorb the entirety of the experience, reliving the memory as if it were her own and not as an observer to someone else's life. Thankfully, most of these experiences were of Naruto sitting in a classroom or training against other students and not suffering through a beating by a village mob. Kami, did she truly just think that school was the best part of his memories. If it had not been for the actions of a few kind people in Naruto's life, he would likely never have survived. But, why had they hid the truth behind the boy's parents, this knowledge could have changed so much, it would have at least let the boy know why he was alone.

Ranma did not know exactly how much time had passed for her within Naruto's memories. It had felt like years, but she knew that it could not have been more than a few days she guessed by the way her body felt. She could now feel and hear what was going on around her, even if she could not as yet fully awaken. She could sense daylight and feel the cool air of the room even under the light blanket covering her. Each of her arms seemed to be strapped near the wrist to something, and there was the feeling of something stuck into her and a tube running off. The worst was that she was sure that something was somewhere where it should not be, as she could feel a small tube running down along her inter thigh.

Keeping her senses passive, she tried to make sense of the strange sounds around her. She could hear the sounds of people moving around outside the room, along with the faintly unpleasant smell of disinfectant in the air. Reasoning that Kyuubi was correct about where she would find herself when she awoke, she kept her ears open for the sounds of voices. It was with some surprise that she realized that she seemed to be able to move her ears slightly as she tracked the movement of people talking and that her hearing seemed sharper than she remembered.

Over time, Ranma came to note patterns to the movement around her. Every hour someone would come in to check on her and then pause briefly to talk to the guard, she sensed in the hallway. This was not the only guard she was sure, just the closest and most likely just the public one. It was these conversations that provided her the most information about what was happening and how she could expect to be treated when she awoke.

She learned that she had been here for the last four days unconscious and that she was not expected to awaken for at least another day. Strangely, to her after having relived all of Naruto's memories in one way or another, the people around her did not seemed to see her as a threat. While, they did not know who she was or even where she came from, they clearly did not know that she was the new container of Kyuubi. They knew that there was something different about her. They would sometimes comment on her odd chakra network and how her chakra had an almost feline feel about it. Ranma knew that when Kyuubi awakened there would be much to discuss. Why did they sense feline energy and not the fox's?

The Hokage was feeling disgusted with the actions of some of the members of the village advising consul and its citizens. When news of Naruto's disappearance and some of the events of a few nights ago having leaked out, some of the village had been celebrating Naruto's suspected death. With a few others putting forth the belief that Naruto had run away from the village after having tried to steal secrets from the village. The truth, that Mizuki had betrayed his position as a teacher. And, was the one truly responsible for the thief of the scroll was being quietly ignored.

Now, Sarutobi was wondering why he had thought that keeping Naruto's parents a secret had been such a good idea. It had not protected him as he had thought it would, in fact it had left the poor boy hated as the one responsible for taking away the beloved Forth Hokage from the village. He was rethinking this action now, too late to protect the boy, but perhaps not too late to save the boy's memory. He would announce to the village just who Naruto's parents were and proclaim the boy a hero for exposing the treason of one of their trusted teachers. Then he could hope to see that some of the people responsible for the boy's past misery exposed as the vile predators that they are. At least that was his wish, he was afraid of what it would say about the village if nothing changed. He truly hoped that it would at least shame the rest into re-examining their past actions.

Now, he wondered about what was to be done with the unconscious girl that was found. They had not been able to find anything about her in the days since the explosion. Just that she was in excellent health, and had a very strange chakra signature. He had suspicions about the nature of her aura that perhaps she was also like Naruto, a vessel for one of the tailed one's. However, according to his information, the two-tailed cat demon was accounted for and none of the other demons energies matched. He would just have to wait for word from the hospital that the girl had awakened and speak to her in private.

Notes: Answered some questions here and left a lot more in their place. What is going on with Kyuubi and Ranma? Will the village be shamed by their treatment of Naruto? In addition, what will happen now that Naruto is not there to be placed with the brooding one and the rabid fangirl?


	4. Chapter 4

Author: Riniko22

Notes: The Characters and Places within this story are not mine, and remain the property of their respected owners. As such, I do not own them, nor am I making any money off them. So sad, very tragic tale of a penniless author that fell into the spring of drowned …….

The characters in this story will likely not act the same as in cannon (written or video), so don't flame me about this. Some will have grown up with different influences on them leading them to react in different ways.

Advice is always welcome. I will continue the story to its end, and I have several other ideals in the works after this one or during breaks between chapters. I hate seeing stories that are dropped and never finished.

* * *

Hitotsu ni suru

Chapter 4

Ranma had just awakened after going back to sleep from the sheer boredom of laying there in the hospital. Sure it did not hurt that this was the first time in ages that she had not been rudely woke up by one of her so-called friends attacking her or her pop with another stupid training attack. She could tell that it was early morning just by the way her body felt, there was just something about that time before the rest of the world awakened that felt different, even expectant you could say.

"Well, it's about time you woke up Kit I thought you were going to sleep the entire day away," Kyuubi said from within her mind, giving her a feeling that she was amused by something.

"What are you taking about Kyuubi, I waited hours for you to talk to me yesterday," said a still sleepy Ranma. "What were you doing during all that time?"

"I was resting Kit; it took a lot of chakra to rechannel the power of the jutsu that Naruto used. Then I used more to save what I could of what remained of Naruto, while trying to saving your life. We were just lucky that things turned out as well as they did. I don't think that I have ever felt a human with a will to live as strong as yours. The process that I used transferring you to this dimension was not designed for living beings. When I reached out for a force to counter the jutsu's energy, I had felt the energy of the weapon you were using and latched on to it. We were just very fortunate that with the mix of energies and the additional viable bio-matter allowed what it did. But, it was very close as it was."

"What do you mean?" Ranma asked with a worried tone.

"I mean that what was left of you. Naruto and the one you called Saffron was nearly not enough for the form you have now. A part of picking you for my host was what you appeared to be, but another part was your size. If Naruto had not been so harmed by the jutsu or if Saffron had been less damaged it could have turned out differently. I am only telling you this because I want us to be open with each other. Nonetheless, I feel that things worked out the best that they could have under the circumstances. I feel that you are an honorable person Ranma, someone that Naruto would have respected and would have liked to have had the chance to call a friend. I hope that we can be that for each other also."

"Now, I think that we need to be ready for when they come to question you. The village of the Leaf is very open, but they are still a ninja village. So, you should understand how they might react since you have full access to Naruto's memories now. You know how he felt about the village, that he loved it even with the way some of its people treated him. I think that our best course of action is to be open to a point, to tell the truth or at least a blend of truths and half-truths. You do not really have to lie, even if you say that you are the child of the Forth, it is the truth. Tell the Hokage that you are from another world; he will know you are telling the truth by reading your aura, by keeping to the truth and not lying directly and staying open you will be believed at least by him. Now let's create you a life within the Leaf."

After talking and planning things out with Kyuubi for awhile, Ranma felt that they had an effective story. Kyuubi explained that she would be able to hide her presence behind the mask of the cat spirit that Kyuubi had consumed. This was fortunate in that foxes and cats share many traits in common. Moreover, the removal of that spirit had done a lot to heal her psyche, she no longer felt the nearly all consuming fear that thinking about cats would bring on. In fact, without it she could even remember that at one time she had liked cats. It even went a long way to her understanding of how she had been able to catch so many cats when her father asked her to.

Ranma knew it would not be much longer before they would come to talk to her. It had seemed like she had been talking to Kyuubi for hours, but she learned that only a fraction of that time had really taken place. Talking in her mind to Kyuubi was similar to when she was in a fight, the real world would just seem to slow down to her and move in slow motion.

* * *

After a short period of time, Ranma could feel that there was an increase in the level of activity outside the room. The guards outside her door were more alert as if waiting for someone important. It was not long after this that she could feel a strong presence coming closer from the feel and Naruto's memories, she felt that this was the Hokage. Just after this the door swung open and one of the two guards walked in to flank the door before an older man that she knew was the Third walked in followed by what she assumed was a doctor or nurse.

"Well young lady, what is your name and can you tells me about how you got here?" He asked.

Winching a little with the young lady comment, Ranma tried to speak for the first time in days, but was unable to get anything out past a whisper.

Noticing her difficulty, the Third spoke, "Oh, I'm sorry, let me pour you a glass of water before we go any farther." Ranma could guess that the old man had fully expected that this would happen and that his response was intended to put her at ease. She still felt that the Third was at least sincere in his concern.

After she had been given a small paper cup of water and scooted up into a sitting position to drink it, she tried to speak again. "Thank you, ojiisan." 'Why did I call him grandfather?' "My name is Uzumaki Ranko," deciding to adopt her female name along with Naruto's, "the only child of Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage." She said, while rubbing the back of her head, "Sorry about this."

With those few words, all sound in the room suddenly disappeared, only to be broken by the tinkling sound of the Third's pipe hitting the ground when it fell out of his suddenly numb fingers. Sarutobi was speechless for a moment, he knew beyond a doubt that the Forth had not had a daughter, but he could detect that the child before him was not lying to him. She was or believed herself to be just who she claimed to be, the daughter of Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage. He did not know how this could be, but he would find out.

Taking a careful look at the child, as he reached down to retrieve his pipe, the Third could almost believe it himself, she had the same icy cerulean blue eyes as the Forth and her hair was the same rich shade of auburn red as Kushina's own had been. Looking the girl straight in the eyes, the Third asked her another question, "If as you say, you are the daughter of the Forth, why is it that we have never heard off or seen you before now?"

Acting as if she was surprised by that question, Ranko looked around the room and said, "I don't know exactly how I got here, but I am who I say I am. The last waking thing I remember before I woke up here was fighting Saffron for Akane's and my friends' lives. When I drove my weapon into his body, it seemed to pour forth energy and explode. I could feel a tearing feeling in the air around me as I was pulled away. It was then that everything went painfully black."

"Alright child, say I believe your claim that you are the Forth's child, tell me more about yourself." The Third asked, thinking that even if she were lying that she may drop some bit of information or clue as to where she truly came from.

"I told you that my parents were Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato, but they were not the people that raised me. After I was born, my parents died, leaving me an orphan. I was raised by Genma and Nodoka Saotome until I was around six years old. It was at that time that Genma took me away from the only home I had known to train in the Saotome family's style of martial arts. Pops, the stupid panda, believes that girls are weak and that allowing Nodoka too much influence in raising me would make me weak too. So, we left to go on a training trip where he raised me as a boy, to be a man among men." Looking straight at the Third with a strange gleam in her eyes she said, "Do I look like a man to you?"

Chuckling along with the child's joke, the Third could not help himself from feeling that she was telling him the truth. Not once had he detected that the story that she told him was a lie. It was hard to believe, but he had seen her through the scrying crystal. She had been lying there unconscious after the flash of light had cleared. Was it possible that she was who she claimed to be, and that she was somehow transported here? He was willing to believe anything at this point. Last night he had been sure that all of Konoha would be destroyed by the jutsu's blast. However, when the light had cleared she had been there. Had she been pulled from somewhere else? He knew enough to know that this was not the only plane of existence, that there were alternate worlds out there. Nevertheless, he still had other questions that needed answering.

Turning back to Ranko, the Third asked her, "Very well child, if as you say you are telling me the truth, I have another question for you. I sense that you have something inside of you, tell me what it is."

Licking her lips to moisten them Ranko was about to answer when the Third stopped her. She watched as he reached out, poured her another glass of water, and kindly allowed her to finish before directing her to continue her story.

"My pops, the fat stupid idiot, is responsible for that. I told you that he took me to train when I was six; well he had found a scroll that had listed an unbeatable technique called the Cat Fist or Neko Ken. Not brothering to read the rest of the scroll to learn that you would have to be a fool to teach someone the technique he went ahead. I will not tell you everything about the technique as I refuse to take the chance that anyone else would try it. He bound me in rope and fish products and tossed me into a pit full of starving cats. Well I did not die or go insane, like the scroll warned. I survived the training somehow with a powerful cat spirit bound to me, but I am in control of it."

The Third could sense that the child was holding back information about this experience. But, after hearing just a part of what she had been through he did not press for more. In fact, he wished that he could meet this Genma; he did not expect that the man would enjoy the meeting. After questioning Ranko more about her past and listening to her answers, Sarutobi felt that the child was not a threat to the village. He would also, have her claims tested against samples of Kushina and Minato's DNA to find out the truth. If these claims turned out to be true, he would take steps to make up for what he failed to do with Naruto. He would have a second chance, in a way to make things right with their heir.

Announcing that they should take a break until later in the day after hearing the child's stomach loudly start to growl, he excused himself and promised to return later. He also promised that he would see about sending someone over to get Ranko some new clothes before he came back. He was slightly surprised that she did not seem more excited about the prospect of new clothes, but he put that down to her explained odd childhood of going up as a boy under Genma's care.

* * *

More to come later soon Ranko as I will now call Ranma will meet Naruto's former classmates and explore the village of the leaf. I am sorry that the chapters are not as long as some people would like. But, I feel that I am doing better about crafting a story and don't like to hold back just to make a longer chapter. At least this way I feel that I am turning something out. Hope you have enjoyed it so far.


	5. Chapter 5

Author: Riniko22

Notes: The Characters and Places within this story are not mine, and remain the property of their respected owners. As such, I do not own them, nor am I making any money off them. So sad, very tragic tale of a penniless author that fell into the spring of drowned …

The characters in this story will likely not act the same as in canon (written or video), so do not flame me about this. Some will have grown up with different influences on them leading them to react in different ways. Advice is always welcome.

Hitotsu ni suru

Chapter 5

Sarutobi had just left the hospital and was now on his way back to his office to think over what he had just learned. If what the child had told him was true, and he had an uncomfortable feeling that it was, then she really was the Forth's child. After he had stepped out of her room, he had immediately requested that an emergency DNA comparison be performed using a sample of the child's cells and that of two other samples that he would have sent over directly. When the results of this test were completed, he would know for sure.

When the Hokage had finally finished his questioning and left Ranko to eat and rest, she had a chance to reflect on her meeting with the

'old man', as she could not help thinking of him as. She had decided on the spur of the moment to give him the name of Uzumaki Ranko instead of Ranma, deciding to honor Naruto's memory by using part of his name and giving up a piece of her past. Her reasoning behind taking the name Ranko was a little harder to understand even to herself. It just seemed right; finally cutting the last connections to her old man. Moreover, Ranko was a name that she was used to answering to, having used it since she meet her mother for the first time. In this, she felt that she was at least honoring her mother and not the old panda. In addition, one last point it would not be encouraging a bunch of embarrassing questions about why she was using a boy's name.

It was while she was eating breakfast that Ranko first noticed some of the changes Kyuubi had made in her body. She found that her hands had lost all the heavy buildup of calluses that all her years of hard work had produced. In fact, all the scarring that had once covered her body from her father's brutal and insane training methods had disappeared. Her skin now was as flawless and pristine as a fresh summer flower. It gave her the sickening feeling that anyone that noticed would conclude that she was a girl that distained any heavy physical activity in fear of marring her beautifully cared for features. She had complained briefly to Kyuubi about this, that now no one would ever take her seriously as an opponent. Only to be told by her that would be to their regret. And, to remind her of one of the founding principles of his school of martial arts and a ninja is too always take every possible advantage, that in a fight anything goes. That it was far better before a battle for your enemy to mistakenly think you pretty and weak than for them to think that you were tough and dead afterwards.

Sarutobi sighed tiredly as he sat leaning back deeply into his favorite chair, a chair he had to rescue from destruction no less than six times so far. It seemed that no matter how many times he had told his staff that it was like himself old and comfortable they would still throw it out behind his back. They seemed unable to comprehend that he was uncomfortable with the idea of throwing out what worked well and was trusted for the new and flashier models. It was a parallel that could be applied to more than chairs; it was like himself in that it could not retire while he still needed it.

Setting the report down, he silently considering the results of the tests he had requested to be run on the young girl that he had questioned earlier. The results before him were conclusive; the girl Ranko was the daughter of Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato. He had had the tests ran twice by two different lab technicians, and they had both came back with the same results. She was the daughter that they never had, at least in this reality; she was Naruto's sister in every sense of the word. He was amazed by the similarities and differences that he had learned about their lives, just from his earlier talk with the girl. She and Naruto both had lost their parents shortly after their birth and ended up becoming containers for powerful creatures. But, the biggest differences lay in that the girl had been raised by a family and knew whom her parents had been. While she may have had, a difficult life from the harsh training that she talked about, it had not been as hard and cruel as the life he had condemned Naruto to by denying him a family and the knowledge of who his parents had been.

Sarutobi decided after interviewing the young girl and finding out her parentage to assign her to the newly created team 8 along with Haruno Sakura and the Hyuuga heir, Hyuuga Hinata. The team of young kunoichi under Yuuhi Kurenai was a team member short. Moreover, while he no longer doubted that she was the Forth's child, he was understandably unsure of her combat skills. After having read her medical file he was sure, she had little actual combat experience. Her body was too well cared for, having none of the usual signs of heavy training, despite her claims to the contrary, much like the other kunoichi that spent most of their time pining after the Uchiha boy. He suspected that she had simply over exaggerated the full extent her combat training. She would most likely excel in the use of the softer kunoichi skills, so his assigning her to a non-combat team seemed to be the best choice for now. It would also allow him to keep an eye on her and the Hyuuga heir, keeping them both protected until they either dropped out or became true kunoichi.

Calling for his aide, Sarutobi sent a message to Yuuhi Kurenai to meet him in his office within the hour. Then after looking over the duty roster for the day he had a message sent to two of his young Kunoichi, Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura, assigning them a special D class mission. He knew that the Yamanaka girl would likely spend more than he had originally planned, but would make up for it in the quality and usefulness of her purchases. The Haruno girl would be there to get to know her future teammate and that he remembered that she was a close friend of the Yamanaka girl. They were to meet up at the hospital and escort Ranko around town to purchase needed clothing and supplies. He hoped that Ranko would be able to develop some bonds with the girls giving her some much-needed friends in the village. While they were doing this, he would be arranging to have the girl moved into a safe home until she was familiar enough with the village to take care of herself.

After Ranko finished breakfast, a task that was mercifully short, she did not understand how hospitals could make food taste so unappealing and still be safe to eat. Well at least they were a step or two above the tomboy's cooking, which had put her into the hospital on more than one occasion. Frowning she realized that she even missed Akane's cooking, and that she would not be seeing Akane again. She suddenly realized that she would have gladly eaten the girl's cooking now just to be with her again.

Ranko wondered about how they were all doing now. Would they be missing her? Shaking these dark thoughts from her head, she told herself that Akane was better off without her. That the girl now didn't have to put up with all the chaos that she had brought to her life. The entire thing with Akane being kidnapped by Saffron was her fault. Akane never would have been exposed to all this danger if she had not showed up at the Tendo's door with her stupid old man. At least she knew that Ryouga would make sure she was safe. While they may have had their differences, she knew he cared about the tomboy as much as she did. I just hope for P-chan's sake that Akane never finds out about his curse, before he has a chance to cure it or tell her himself.

Ranko was startled out of her depression by the soft knock to her hospital door. Just before she was going to answer it, the door opened a little and she heard a girl's voice.

"Hey, is it alright if we come in? The Hokage sent us to take you around town and help you get everything that you will need," a blond haired girl said as she slowly stepped on into the room. "Oh, I almost forgot to introduce myself, my name is Yamanaka Ino and the girl with the big forehead behind me is Haruno Sakura," Ino said while quickly moving out of the way of the pink haired girl behind her.

"Shut up Ino-pig!" The girl shouted at the other girl. "There's nothing wrong with the size of my forehead." Ranko watched as the girl turned back around to her with the angry look on her face turning into a wide smile. "I apologize for stepping into your room so abruptly and yelling at Ino before we had a chance to be properly introduced. You can call me Haruno Sakura, I'm happy to meet you." She said while smiling and making a small bow.

Ranko had the strangest feeling of déjà vu, it reminded her of her first meeting with Akane when the girl had smiled and asked her if she wanted to be her friend, just before she tried to hit her with a large stone garden lantern. Catching herself before she said anything stupid, she bowed back to the two girls and introduced herself to them, "I'm pleased to meet you both, my name is Uzumaki Naruto. I'm Naruto's sister."

Ranko watched the odd look that came across the two girls faces with this statement. It was as if the two girls had been pole axed. What had she said that was wrong?

Well I hate to cut things short, just as they were getting good. However, I have to be somewhere soon and I wanted to get this posted before I left. I will be hard at work on the story over the next week when I am not working. Hope you have enjoyed it so far.

02/13/2012 – slight editing done for clarity and to get the story back into my mind. I hope to finish looking over the other chapters and then picking up again from where I left off with a new chapter soon.


	6. Chapter 6

Author: Riniko22

Notes: The Characters and Places within this story are not mine, and remain the property of their respected owners. As such, I do not own them, nor am I making any money off them. So sad, honored reader, this very tragic tale of penniless author that fell into the spring of drowned …

The characters in this story will likely not act the same as in canon (written or video), so do not flame me about this. Some will have grown up with different influences on them leading them to react in different ways. Advice is always welcome.

Hitotsu ni suru

Chapter 6

"Kit, do you even listen to yourself when you talk, because you just said you were Naruto and that you were your own sister." Kyuubi giggled in Ranko's mind.

Ranko listened to what Kyuubi had just said to her and mentally drove her fist into the side of her head. Why did these stupid things always seem to happen to her? Thinking quickly, she forced a blush of embarrassment to come over her face and said, "Oh, I'm very sorry. What I meant to say was that I am Uzumaki Ranko and that Naruto is my brother. Sorry about that." She said giggling a little and nervously rubbing the area behind her neck. Damn, she missed her pigtail.

Sakura and Ino looked over at the cute red headed girl and were at a lost on what to say. It was obvious to both of them that no one had told her the terrible news yet. Why had the Hokage not informed her that her brother was dead? Now they both felt terrible about how they had treated him and now they had to tell her the news. That Naruto had died a hero stopping an enemy ninja who broke into the Hokage's office and attempted to make off with a dangerous scroll. Moreover, with the news of his death the Hokage had shocked the whole village by releasing the details behind Naruto's past. With the release of this information, a great number of the people that had been openly celebrating Naruto's death were now trying to pretend that they had always liked the boy and were terribly saddened by his death.

Ranko watched the two girls in front of her with a great deal of trepidation as their faces went through several different emotions in a manner of seconds. She could not figure out what she had said wrong this time and was beginning to worry. Just as she was about to apologize again the two girls dashed forward wrapping their arms around her and started to cry and tell her how sorry they were. She froze up not knowing what to do, she hated to see a girl cry and now there were two crying all over her and holding her tightly. Trying to gather her strength she said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I don't know what I said wrong, but please forgive me Ino-chan Sakura-chan."

Hearing the trembling girl they were holding start to apologize to them left both Ino and Sakura feeling worse and they began to cry harder. As they held on to Ranko, they both started to apologize repeatedly for how they had treated Naruto in the past. Over the next thirty minutes of the two girls holding on to her and crying into her shoulders she heard the entire story of how her brother Naruto had bravely died to protect the village that had hated him. That they were both sorry for treating him the way they had and begging her to forgive them, but would understand if she could not.

Ranko was visibly shaking herself by the time the two other girls began to calm down. She could feel that her own cheeks were damp and that she must have started crying herself somewhere during all this. She was embarrassed and glad at the same time, now she knew what had happened over the last few days that she had been unconscious. She was even more grateful that no one that really knew her had seen what had just happened. If her pop's had seen this she would have been hearing the old fool going over and over again about his weak and girly son and how shamed he was. Worse yet, if Akane had seen two girls all over her crying she would have been beaten to death.

Having finally gathered herself together Ino said, "Ranko-chan, I want to say again that I will do whatever I can to help you. I cannot begin to express my sorrow for your loss. To find out that you have a brother, just to hear that he died before you even had a chance to meet him is the saddest thing I have ever heard. I don't know why the Hokage did not tell you himself when he came to visit you earlier."

Sakura also did not want to be out apologized by Ino, so she jumped in saying, "I'm sorry too, I never should have treated Naruto the way I did. I just followed along with the way the adults and the rest of the kids treated him without ever asking why. He was always nice to me and now I just wish that I had been nice to him back. Can you find it in your heart to ever forgive me?"

Ranko had a guess about that, she suspected that the old man had wanted to avoid telling her this myself after finding out who she was. After all, she had all of Naruto's memories of the old man and the village and how they had treated Naruto. He had treated Naruto like a friend, but what kind of a friend would have allowed all that to happen to someone they cared for. She would have words with him the next time he came to talk to her, now that she could. Nevertheless, for now she would take on the role of the lost sister of Naruto and make a new life for herself here. It was strange, as bad as she felt about how people had treated Naruto, she still wanted to protect and forgive them. Moreover, that meant first forgiving the two girls in front of her and allowing them to become her friends, something that had never been too difficult for her or Naruto to do.

"I forgive both of you and I know that if Naruto were here he would forgive you too. I just hope that we can be friends." Ranko said, giving each of the two girls a friendly and hopeful smile.

With those words, the two stepped forward and happily hugged her telling her that they would always be her friend if she would have them. "Now that were friends I want to take you out and show you the village. The Hokage had sent us over here to show you around and welcome you to the village. Now that we know why he did not tell you everything himself I will not feel so bad about what I am about to do with the credit chit that he gave us to get you settled in. Let's get shopping!" Ino squealed with a somewhat evil smile on her face. As these words left Ino's mouth, the Hokage suddenly felt a cold chill go down his spine.

"Excellent save Kit," Kyuubi said.

"Where have you been, I was dying there. I didn't know what to say," Ranko thought back.

"Oh, I was there watching. I had faith in you to get out of your problems without my help."

"I need your help now. How do I get out of this, I do not want to spend my entire day shopping for clothes. The only times I went shopping for girls clothes before was went I got dragged out to get stuff by Mom when I was pretending to be Ranko or for a disguise."

"Well then it's a good thing your Ranko now isn't it. You would look pretty silly in that outfit otherwise. Besides, you know you will need all those clothes later. Just think about how lucky you are to have all this expert help, that Ino girl knows her stuff. You could learn a few things from her," Kyuubi snickered from within her mind.

"Oh, laugh it up. I will get you for this somehow." Ranko vowed to punish Kyuubi somehow for not helping her get out of this. She would find out her weakness and enjoy dishing out the payback. The only thing that made being a girl bearable was the knowledge that she had left all the perverts and idiots like Kuno behind.

"Hey Ranko-chan. What do you think? Should we go with the emerald green or jade green blouse?" Ino asked for the second time trying to get Ranko attention back. She was beginning to wonder about the girl, you would think she had no interest in what clothing she wore. The only time she had perked up was when they had bought those outfits that reminded Ino of Tenten's, it had taken her and Sakura both to talk the girl out of spending all her clothing allowance on those boring things. Luckily the shop had only had three of the things in her size.

After what seemed like several days, but was only a few hours, Ranko's stomach started to protest her lack of a decent breakfast. It had started off with just little noises, but after receiving no response, it began to get serious with its demands. Sakura had just returned from dropping off the third load of purchases and stepped into the changing room when she heard a rumble that sounded like thunder come from the semi-dressed girl in front of her. Sakura was so surprised by this that she had jumped back into the curtain closing off the changing room, tearing it loose from its frame. The result of this accident would have lasting repercussions for Ranko, as the changing rooms faced the rest of the store and team seven had just stepped in to the shop to drop off a package.

With this racket, every eye in the store was suddenly drawn to the back of the store to see what had happened. There framed perfectly behind the now wide open doorway was Ranko dressed only in a pair of pale blue panties and holding a matching bra that she had just picked up. Sakura from her position on the floor was just starting to realize what she had inadvertently done when the sound of bodies began to hit the floor behind her.

When Sakura had walked in on Ranko, she had been changing into the second matching bra and panty set that Ino had forced her into. Ranko had tried to talk the girl into being reasonable and just letting her pick her own. But, she had not been having any success since Ino had noticed that she had only picked out a few dull and uninteresting sports bras and boy-cut panties. Sure, Ranko's choices had been practical for training and missions. But, what self-respecting girl would fill her drawers full of just those. She had only been looking out for her welfare.

Ranko had thought that nothing could have been more embarrassing than having to model for Nabiki's photo shoots, but she was now proven wrong. Things had seemed to be looking up at first; she had found out that her new body was not quite as girly as her old one having only a B-cup and being less heavily curved. What she did not realize and that Kyuubi was not going to tell her was that this was because she was much younger than she had been. Ranko had just failed to realize this because her height had not really changed, but she would be blossoming into a very attractive young woman over the next few years.

But, now she had been proven wrong. As Ranko was now going through an abrupt and before this event never developed case of massive feminine modesty. For there in front of her were several men that had been shopping (OK, carrying their wives purchases) staring straight at her and behind them near the front was Sasuke, Kiba, Shino, and what she could feel from here was a one eyed spikely white haired pervert all with blood running down from their noses. She did not understand what came over her next. As the next thing she remembered was jumping back screaming as a ball of hot pink energy formed in her hands before releasing and flying straight at the pervert. Things were never going to be the same again.

I know that this was not an expected response by Ranko, but she has learned a lot over the years under Kasumi guidance. She had also been under a lot of stress with everything that has happened to her and having to shop with Ino. That could do it all by itself. The next chapter will be out soon with Ranko getting a new home and meeting the rest of her team. Wait until she finds out what is expected of her.

Edited on 03-05-12 to hopefully clear up some problems in this chapter's grammar.

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	7. Chapter 7

Author: Riniko22

Notes: The Characters and Places within this story are not mine, and remain the property of their respected owners. As such, I do not own them, nor am I making any money off them. So sad, honored reader, this very tragic tale of penniless author that fell into the spring of drowned …

The characters in this story will likely not act the same as in canon (written or video), so do not flame me about this. Some will have grown up with different influences on them leading them to react in different ways. Advice is always welcome.

* * *

Hitotsu ni suru

Chapter 7

Time just seemed to slow down to a crawl as the ball of energy left Ranko's hands and began to streak across the women's clothing store. In this frozen time between one second and the next, she was able to think with a crystal clarity that had been eluding her since this whole disaster began. Ino had just finished talked her into trying on more feminine undergarments than she was really comfortable with, OK forced her by using her weakness, the puppy dog eyes. A powerful persuasion tool that she herself used with devastating effectiveness to gain free food from unsuspecting food vendors, but was unable to resist herself. Little did Ranko know that the Yamanaka family excelled in the art of manipulation, Ino could possibly even teach Nabiki a thing or two about how to get her way. Ranko had quickly given in, trying on the embarrassing lingerie having concluded that no one she knew would ever know and that she had left all the perverts behind when she arrived in this world. Ino wouldn't know that the lingerie would just be setting in her dresser unused after she bought a few sets to make her happy.

That was when disaster happened; Sakura had tripped when she returned ripping the changing room curtain open and exposing her to everyone. An embarrassing mistake that would not have normally have bothered her until Ranko felt the strange vibes emanating from the front of the store. That was when she saw them, Naruto's three former classmates and the white haired pervert. It was at that moment that pieces of Naruto blended more fully within her; it was as if she had been exposed this way in front of Ryouga, Mousse, Pantyhose Taro, and Happosai all at the same time. It quickly overcome her with emotions of embarrassment, then disgust, then something like righteous anger that surged out of her empowering a Ki attack similar to the Moko Takabisha. All this she could have shrugged off eventually, it was just the color of the attack that caused Ranko to escape by passing out. She would later claim that she did not pass out, that she was just still weak from her earlier ordeal.

* * *

When Ranko next opened her eyes she was once again back in her room at the hospital grateful that at least someone had clothed her while she was out. There were a few new faces in the room that she did not know along with Sakura, Ino, and the Hokage. As soon as the others noticed that she had regained consciousness, she was promptly assaulted with pleas by a frantic Sakura to forgive her that it was all her fault. Before she could even open her mouth to say that, it was all right that things like this always seemed to happen to her the Hokage spoke.

"Sakura-chan, I am sure that Ranko-chan will forgive you, but I must speak to her in private first. If you and the others would please step out of the room for a bit I would be happy to let you visit her after I am finished." The Third said while pulling his pipe out of his robes as the other left.

"Hey old man, I don't think you are allowed to smoke in here," stated Ranko wrinkling her nose just thinking about it. She did not like seeing the pipe; it brought to mind too many memories of another pipe and the old pervert attached to it.

"Oh, I was just checking my pockets," Sarutobi quickly mumbled while putting his pipe back within his robes.

"Yea, right old man," Ranko said, giving him a look that said she did not believe a word of it.

"Nevertheless Ranko, I have some serious questions to ask you about what happened earlier. Tell me what happened and what was that jutsu you performed?"

Reaching behind her head to rub the back of her neck Ranko's face flushed a bit before she could bring herself to speak. "It's not my fault, I was embarrassed and then when I saw that pervert just staring at me." She looked down, bringing her hands forward and back down into her lap, she began to ring her hands together in her best Nabiki act. "I couldn't help it, everything had just been building up and then the curtain ripped open, exposing me to all those people. I just let it all out. I do not know what happened; I have never used that attack before." I hope that I never do again, realizing what emotions she had channeled to produce that technique, it was not the same as the Moko Takabisha, which used her confidence. Looking up with her eyes starting to water up, she could see that the old man was falling for it. Whoever thought that all the times I had watched Nabiki play her old man would help me. If Nabiki saw this she would be proud, yea right, she would blackmail me with this to her dying day. Well she might be proud, but money's money.

"Yes, well I can understand that you have been under a lot of pressure and unfortunate accidents like this can happen." Remembering something painfully similar involving Tsunade and Jaraiya, it was that event that had marked the beginning of Tsunade's remarkable strength. "However, I cannot have you going around blasting my best ninja through a store window and across a busy street. I will be placing you with someone to watch over you and continue your future training. You along with two other young kunoichi will be placed on her team with one of the girls you have already meet, Sakura-chan. Your jounin instructor, Yuuhi Kurenai-san, will continue to train you in all the skills and techniques that are expected of our kunoichi."

Ranko was initially intrigued by the idea of receiving additional training; as the memories she had received from Naruto had done a lot to make her reexamine her feelings about ninja. She knew that the world she was now in was vastly different from the somewhat safe world that she had come from. She knew the general history of the various countries that made of this world, or at least the history that Naruto had not completely slept through. The people here followed a stricter code of living than she was totally comfortable with. They could not stop at just defeating their opponents when they knew that those same opponents would not hesitate to kill them or the people they are protecting. It made her think back to what had happened with Saffron. She had not wanted to kill him, but he did not leave her any choice, he had tried to kill Akane and their friends right in front of her eyes. He had not cared who he killed; he had forced her to defend them in the only way that was left open to her by killing him. Now, she had to protect an entire village, all of Naruto's special people from others just like Saffron. It did not matter that some of them had hated him; he like her would not allow them to die if she could help it.

Ranko could also understand that the old man could not just allow her to live by herself yet. She was new to the village, so would not be expected to be familiar with all the things that she would need to know. She would not know where the best places to shop for groceries where, where to pay the utilities, and a host of other little things that a minor would not think about. The fact that Naruto had been forced to live alone from a young age, having been thrown out of the orphanage made Ranko quite mad. Just because the old man had helped by finding him, a place and having his bills paid did not relieve him of guilt in her eyes. She knew how being alone had hurt the boy, knowing that there was no one waiting at home to take care of him or comfort him when he woke up in the middle of the night from a nightmare and there had been way too many nights with him lying awake from those.

"Alright old man, I accept. Just know that I will not be keeping secret the fact that I am the child of the Yondaime Hokage or my relationship to Naruto. I will not allow myself to be treated as an untouchable by anyone in this village just to keep my identity a secret, a secret that did not protect Naruto from danger. It just traded enemies from outside the village for enemies within, and from what I have heard so far, they were by far the most dangerous. I also demand you release my inheritance, which you had denied Naruto. This includes my parents personal jutsu and technique library, and do not think that I do not know that they exist. I had access to my family's secret scrolls in my world." There was no need to mention that I was referring to Genma's secret techniques, I was sure that they existed and would have access to them.

As The Third listened to the child's acceptance he at first was pleased. However, this was soon to change as he began to have trouble keeping a steady glaze on the girl. She had turned his control of the situation around quickly by slamming him with his mishandling of Naruto care, and he could not deny that he had failed to protect the boy properly. True he had released the news of the boy's parentage after his death, taking a heavy bite out of the glee of those that had been celebrating it. Many prominent merchant families were now suffering a loss of business by those that found out about their former treatment of the boy. Which was made all the easier by their own admission to the crime when the news of the boys death had first leaked out. He was shamed to admit that he had not realized how badly the boy had been suffering under his protection.

"Very well child, I will not require you to keep the nature of your parentage a secret. At this point, I doubt that I would be able to, as I have already had to explain my reasons for keeping Naruto's identity a secret from many of the village's consul during the last meeting. It will be even less difficult to explain your arrival and relationship at this point." It may even turn out to be a cathartic event, he imagined for the village, allowing many to regain their honor by making up to Ranko for their poor treatment of Naruto. "I will make the arrangements to have the stored effects of your parents returned to you and their properties that have been held in trust secretly to go to you as their heir. None will be able to deny your claims as the evidence of your rights have already been verified. Moreover, there is no one alive currently from your mother's delivery to challenge the contention that you are not Naruto's twin. Many of the records of that day were destroyed during the attack and the resulting fires that followed in its wake."

"Now that we have concluded that unpleasant business, I wish to introduce you to your new team leader and temporary guardian. She will take over your instruction after she evaluates your skills, which will be arranged as soon as you inform her that you have fully recovered." The Third finished as he turned to reopen the door and motioned for the people waiting down the hall to come back into the room.

* * *

The next chapter will have Ranko meeting the rest of her team and learning what is expected of them. I do not envy anyone that makes light of Ranko or her team after she learns the truth, something there for future chapters to cover.

Edited for clarity and spelling on 3/18/12


	8. Chapter 8

Author: Riniko22

Notes: The Characters and Places within this story are not mine, and remain the property of their respected owners. As such, I do not own them, nor am I making any money off them. So sad, honored reader, this very tragic tale of penniless author that fell into the spring of drowned …

The characters in this story will likely not act the same as in canon (written or video), so do not flame me about this. Some will have grown up with different influences on them leading them to react in different ways. Advice is always welcome.

* * *

Hitotsu ni suru

Chapter 8

Just after the Hokage stepped out of her room, Sakura rushed back into the room with a shamed look on her face. "I am so sorry Ranko-chan; I never meant to embarrass you. I will never be able to make up for exposing you like that in front of everyone. But, if you will allow me to try, I will do anything you ask to make up for it," she finished looking at Ranko with pleading eyes.

Looking over at the girl begging her for forgiveness Ranko could not think of anything to say for a second. It was so unlike anything that usually happened to her that she was stunned and unable to speak for a few moments. And, the memories that she got from Naruto were equally useless to her here.

Seeing Ranko starring at her and not saying a word Sakura was sure that the girl was furious with her and would never want to talk to her again. Dropping her head down in pained acknowledgement Sakura started to turn away from Ranko as her eyes began to water.

As Sakura started to turn away, Ranko snapped out of her momentary shock by the anguished look on the girl's face. Speaking quickly, "Wait, Sakura don't go, please. I forgive you; I was just shocked by your apology. To tell the truth, I'm not used to people saying that their sorry when something like that happens. They usually just turn everything around and blame it all on me. If you will have me, I'd like to be your friend."

As soon as the last word left Ranko's lips, she had the air forcibly crushed from her chest by a powerful glomp. With each second that passed it seemed more and more likely that she would die again. With what seemed like the last bit of air left in her lungs she gasped out, "Sakura-chan, I can't breathe!"

"Sakura-chan, Ranko-chan has accepted your apology I believe you can release her now," Ranko heard a new voice say as the room was beginning to fade from her eyes.

"Yea, fore-head girl, I guess Sasuke-kun is mine now since you seem to like Ranko-chan so much," Ino said in a teasing tone from the doorway.

Just like that, Sakura released Ranko from her crushing hug, allowing Ranko to fall back towards the bed and into blessed unconsciousness as she turned towards Ino.

When Ranko once again regained consciousness a few moments later she saw the new women that had been in the room earlier before her private talk with the Hokage. She was a dark haired woman with the strangest red eyes that Ranko had ever seen. Almost as soon as Ranko had opened her eyes, again the woman had turned focusing her eerie gaze straight into Ranko's eyes.

"Hello Ranko-chan, it is nice to finally meet you. My name is Yuuhi Kurenai; I am a Jounin of the village and the leader and instructor of team 8, which you have been assigned to. In addition, I will also be your host until the Hokage decides that you are familiar enough with the village to handle an apartment on your own. Now, if you are ready to leave, why don't we all have a late lunch and get to know each other better. After all the Hokage had offered to pay as it is to be a formal introductory team meeting for my new team. And of course Ino-chan you are invited as well for helping Ranko-chan and Sakura-chan so much today."

While Ranko was not looking forward to living with a woman full time she was not able to think of any objections to the arrangement that had been decided for her. Moreover, when the woman mentioned that she would be taking them to lunch, the thought of free food overcame any objections that had started to form in her head. Turning to face her new guardian and team leader, she very politely bowed to her and said, "I want to thank you very much Yuuhi-Sensei for allowing my unworthy self into your home and accepting me onto your team. I will strive to prove myself worthy of your instruction and acceptance into your home."

When the young girl in front of her finished her speech, Kurenai was very impressed with how she handled their introduction. It was obvious to her that the girl was an extremely polite young kunoichi; she hoped that the girl would also be as skilled in other areas. It was at this moment that the quiet between their introductions was broken by the loud growl of Ranko's empty stomach. With the formal mood unexpectedly broken, everyone looked in Ranko's direction and began to laugh and giggle good-naturedly at the suddenly embarrassed girl.

"Well, I guess that now that the formalities are out of the way it would be best if we all continue our introductions over lunch before Ranko-chan roars her disapproval again," Kurenai said with the faintest smile to belie the seriousness of her words. "Now, if you would all follow me. We will be meeting our final team member Hyuuga Hinata on the way as her father's messenger delivered a letter that she has recovered from the illness that has affected her over the past few days."

Both Ino and Sakura could guess that the illness that Hinata had fallen to had been caused by the news of Naruto's death. They knew that the quiet girl had a crush on the loud troublemaker and had never quite understood the attraction that she had for the boy. The fact that they themselves had an attraction for a boy that did not return a fraction of the attention that they directed his way did not even enter their minds. Nevertheless, they did admit to themselves now that they knew the circumstances behind the hatred that most of the village had directed Naruto's way that they had blindly mistreated the boy themselves. The fact that Hinata had been able to overcome this and treat Naruto as someone worthy of respect and love made them think that they had been wrong about him all along. Now that he was gone they would made up for this by being there for his sister Ranko and helping Hinata in any way they could.

* * *

When Hinata had first heard the rumors about Naruto she had refused to believe them. Her Naruto-kun would not betray or run away from the village, he loved Konoha and wished to protect everyone within it regardless of how badly they may have treated him. However, as the rumors grew and spread she became more worried that something truly terrible may have happened to him. The way that her father had responded when one of the branch family members had reported to him had left her even more deeply worried that the rumors were true. For the first time that she could remember a slight smile seemed to have come over his face for a brief moment, and in that, second she knew that something horrible had happened to her Naruto-kun. It was then that she snapped and screamed in anguish charging at her father. How could he take delight in the death of her beloved Naruto-kun?

Hinata moved with a skill and speed that caught her father in shocked surprise, while she spat her hate out at him for dishonoring Naruto death. She began striking him with a power and drive that she had never before achieved in any of the training matches that her father had subjected her too. Before he was able to react, she had struck him with several damaging blows backed by her Byakugan. And, with each successful strike Hinata could feel the fear of her father and his disabling disappointment in her abilities diminish and eroded away. Before she could deliver a decisive blow, she was knocked unconscious by one of her family's guards who had moved in from behind her.

As Hinata awoke later, she could tell that she had not been dreaming about her attack on her father. She felt sore all over and the back of her head hurt from the blow that she had taken just before everything went black. She found her hands painfully restrained behind her back and in an unfamiliar room. As she lay there in the darkened room she briefly contemplated what her father would do to her, but she quickly realized that she could not find the will to care at this point. The boy that she loved was dead; she was sure of that now and for a brief moment, she felt that there was nothing left to live for. That is until she remembered that Naruto never gave up, if she allowed herself to give in, she would be dishonoring his memory. She would not allow her father to take that away from her, even if he decided that she had to die herself for attacking him.

After several hours of waiting for someone to come and pronounce her fate the door finally opened to her cell. Then a painfully bright light snapped on leaving her eyes blinking and tearing before she was able to notice that someone had entered the room. Looking up she saw that the visitor was her father, Hyuuga Hiashi. She could tell that he was moving stiffly and in some pain, that made her feel strangely satisfied. She expected him to tell her that she would be punished with the Caged Bird Seal or killed for attacking him, but was surprised by what he said. "Daughter it appears that I was wrong about you. In fact, it seems that I may have been wrong about several things. You are not weak as I thought. Don't disappoint me and make me change my mind again." With those words, he turned and left the room. A few minutes later, a guard came into the room and released her arms before leading her back to her rooms within the main house.

The next morning was to signal several surprises for the people of the village. There was a public announcement that the Hokage would be addressing the village later that day with news that he had already delivered to the consul.

Later that day when the Hokage had confirmed that Naruto had died the other night, Hinata had again felt that she had died along side him. She had listened with sadness and pride when the Hokage had praised Naruto as being a hero to the village. That he had confronted and stopped Mizuki, a traitor to the village, and prevented him from stealing a valuable scroll from the Hokage's office and escaping with it at the cost of his own life. He had gone on to tell the village that Naruto had been a very special hero to Konoha all his life. That the Forth had selected his very own son, Naruto to protect the village from the nine-tailed demon fox Kyuubi by becoming its living prison. He went on to say that, he was saddened that those that the boy had protected had treated him so badly. The Hokage had gone on to state that Naruto would be promoted posthumously to genin and given full honors as a hero of the village, having his name engraved on the Memorial stone along side his father and mother.

After the Hokage's announcement, Hinata received a message from her father that she would be required to meet her new Jounin instructor and teammates the next day at 2pm in front of the family compound.

* * *

A/N: I still do not feel completely happy with this chapter, but I have rewritten this chapter several times and want to move on. I think the Hokage will be in pain when he receives the bill for team 8's lunch. Let me know what you think.


	9. Chapter 9

Author: Riniko22

Notes: The Characters and Places within this story are not mine, and remain the property of their respected owners. As such, I do not own them, nor am I making any money off them. So sad, honored reader, this very tragic tale of penniless author that fell into the spring of drowned …

The characters in this story will likely not act the same as in canon (written or video), so do not flame me about this. Some will have grown up with different influences on them leading them to react in different ways. Advice is always welcome.

Sorry for the long delay between chapter 8 and 9, you would not believe the long week I had. While, reaching into the back of the refrigerator for a soda, I fell in and was flash frozen until the power went out from the bill not being paid. I glad now that I decide against direct withdraw there. ;)

* * *

Hitotsu ni suru

Chapter 9

Hinata woke-up late the next day with the sun shining brightly into her room. She had found herself unable to sleep well, waking-up every few hours from disturbing dreams of Naruto dying in her arms. Blinking her eyes to loosen the crusty remnants of sleep, Hinata yawned lightly while stretching her still tired muscles. Now that her eyes were clear enough to see, she noticed the lateness of the day. "Pease don't let me be late," she cried, before turning to look over to her clock. She was visibly relieved to see that she had just enough time to take a quick shower before hurrying to meet her new team.

* * *

Ranko walked a little slower than the other girls did on the way to the Hyuuga compound. So, that she could disguise her knowledge of the village. The fact that she was actively looking around as they walked along did work to complete the picture of a young kunoichi getting to know a new home.

Ranko wondered again, why Kyuubi had not spoken to her for a while as she followed along casually talking with her new friends and sensei. She was worried that maybe Kyuubi been weakened more than she was letting on. Knowing that there was little that she could do about it she decided to give her new friend time to rest. She brought her full attention back to the conversation that was going on between Sakura and Ino; she listened for a few minutes until she could ask a question.

"Sensei, could you tell me a little about the girl me are going to meet," Ranko asked before Ino could start another discussion on the newest fashions or worse yet bring up Sasuke again. It was really getting to the point that if it came to a choice between the two, she would voluntarily keep the subject on what would look best on them. She just hoped that they would not start up again, on what would be the best outfit to catch Sasuke's attention, it had taken everything she had to live though the last one.

"I don't want to bias your opinion about your other team member Ranko, so I will just tell you the publicly know information for now and let you find out the rest from her personally. OK?"

"Yes, Sensei that's fine by me, I really just want to know enough about her to greet her properly," replied Ranko. She was hoping to get more information about the girl that Ranko's new memories were telling her had been Naruto's only true friend, even if he never realized just how much she had cared for him. The more she could get people to tell her about the village and the people that lived here the easier it would be for her not to say or do something that would give her own secret knowledge away.

"The young kunoichi, Hyuuga Hinata that we are meeting will be the third member of Team Eight; she will be working along side you and Sakura. Hinata is the eldest of the two daughters of Hyuuga Hiashi, and current heir to the Hyuuga clan. Their clan is one of the largest and most powerful clans in Konoha, the Hyuuga family carries a powerful Bloodline trait called the Byakugan, using this ability in combination with their family unique fighting style has made them very powerful in the village," Kurenai explained. "I will leave the rest for you to find out from Hinata herself as we will be arriving at the Hyuuga compound soon."

"Thank you, Sensei. I am sure that Hinata-chan will be an excellent teammate for both Sakura-chan and myself," Ranko answered back with a confident tone. Ranko could tell from Kurenai-san's description that there was much more to know about the Hyuuga family than she had told her or from what she was able to make of Naruto's memories. She doubted that Ino or Sakura had caught the tightness that had entered her voice as Kurenai-san mentioned Hinata's father Hyuuga Hiashi. Kurenai-san had covered her distain for the man well, but with Ranko's senses, it had been easy to pick-up. Whatever the reasons for this she knew that she would be keeping a watchful eye out to discover why.

* * *

Hinata had just stepped out of the Clan's compound to wait for her new sensei and teammates when she faintly heard Ino's voice coming from down the street. Turning to look that way, she could see the blond haired girl and the three that she was instructed to look for. She recognized the dark haired Jounin with them as Yuuhi Kurenai, her new sensei and the pink haired girl with her as her former classmate Sakura. The red haired girl was new to her; Hinata guessed that she was Naruto's missing sister, Ranko. Clenching her hand into a tight fist, so as not to breakdown again from the still fresh pain that Naruto's death had left, she regained control of her emotions. She would be strong, honor Naruto's memory, and do everything she could to make friends with his sister. Knowing that the other girl was likely hurting more than she was, having lost her brother before she could even meet him for the first time.

* * *

"Sensei is that dark haired girl that just stepped out of the gate Hinata-chan," Ranko asked.

"Yes, it is Ranko. It looks like our timing was just about perfect," Kurenai said to the group. Before turning to face the girl again and wave her over in greeting. "I hope that you have not been waiting long Hinata-chan?"

"No, sensei. I had just stepped out to wait for you, hoping that you had not been waiting for me, when I heard Ino-chan's voice. Will Ino, be going our team also, I was under the understanding that I would be meeting you and my new teammates for today," Hinata asked with what Kurenai detected to be a little less hesitation than she was used to hearing from the shy girl.

"Ino-chan will be going the four of us for lunch before we have our official team meeting," Kurenai offered. I wanted to thank her for her excellent help this morning helping Naruto's sister Ranko. Ino and Sakura spent this morning with Ranko, helping her find clothing and supplies." Turning slightly towards Ino, she continued talking, "After, the five of us finish eating; Ino-chan is welcome to join us for training, if she wants."

"I would love too, if nobody minds," Ino gusted happily. "I don't really get enough training in with Asuma-sensei and the boys," she said before reddening slightly when she realized how that might sound.

"Don't worry Ino, I know what you mean. Asuma is an excellent teacher, but as the only Kunoichi on your team, there are some things that he may miss. I'm sure that he would not mind if you wished to join us for training if you desire when it does not interfere with his training schedule." Kurenai really would not mind having the girl join them when she could for training. It would allow her to watch the four girls practice one-on-one or against uneven forces and she really did want to make sure that the girl received some additional help. She did not think that Asuma would have a problem with this; he would know that it would only help the girl and his team as a result.

"Now, hurry along girls, we have a free lunch on the Hokage's tab, so don't feel that you need to hold back on my account. I know just the place for us to go. I hope you all like Korean barbecue because I heard that they have the best in Fire country." Kurenai exclaimed, as the girls followed behind her.

Ranko attention had been drifting off the four until Kurenai-sensei brought up lunch again. And, hearing that she did not need to hold her appetite back and that it would be at the Hokage's expense make it all the sweeter. Just thinking about it made her stomach start to growl slightly in anticipation to the other girl's amusement.

* * *

After they arrived at the restaurant and seated, Ranko had to ask Kurenai a question, just to be sure. "Sensei, you said that this meal was on the Hokage's tab and that we could order as much as we wanted correct?"

"Yes, as long as you are eating what you order there is no limit on what you can have. Just, don't order anything that you really can't eat." She answered the girl, Kurenai knew that as long as they actually ate what they ordered or close to it that there would be no problem. The Hokage himself had told her last week about the place and this was the first time that she had had the chance to try it out. Besides, how much could her and four girls really eat anyway?

* * *

Ranko knew that she would need to start out light on her order, so that Kurenai would not question her. Looking down the menu, she picked out several dishes that would be a good start. And, she would be sure to let the server know that she would be ordering a dessert at the end of the meal. She had learned long ago that this would have the server checking back more often to see if she was ready. When she did, she would just ask for more then. Usually the only places that she had been able to get away with this were new all you could eat buffet that had not heard of her or her father yet. Afterwards, they would always change things and place a limit or just ban them from returning.

The others were surprised when they heard Ranko place her order. However, she caught their curious looks, reassuring them that she was just really hungry, and would be eating everything.

When everyone's meals arrived, they were shocked by the speed and the amount of food that the new girl was putting away. In fact, when she finished, they where stunned when she placed another large order all before they themselves had finished their own meals. And, were surprised again when Ranko asked them if she could have the rest of their unserved meals while she was waiting for her third order. After the forth massive order they had stopped asking her how she could possibly eat that much and stay that size and began to wonder if she may be related to the Akimichi clan somehow. Until they remembered Naruto's epic orders of ramen the few times they saw him eating. The only thing that would tie her more firmly as Naruto's sister now would be if Ranko had insisted on wearing orange.

When she was finally finished eating the staff actually cheered, or at least the owner did. He had never been so glad to have listened to the other restaurant owners when they warned that he should never offer an all you could eat meal. In addition, the knowledge that the Hokage had already covered the party's order had kept the food coming. As Ranko began to leave the owner rushed over and insisted on taking her picture to be placed on the wall over the table in honor of her accomplishment. In the months ahead this would turn out to be the most profitable idea he had ever had, as the Akimichi clan on hearing of it vowed to overturn Ranko's record.

* * *

When Team 8 finally reached the training grounds, it was much later than Kurenai had originally planned. She had thought that they would be finishing here soon, not just getting started. Lucky, it would still be light out for several hours before they would have to call a halt to the day's testing.

* * *

AN:

Sorry, it took so long. However, I promise to try to get the next chapter out sooner. There is a chance that I might even have a chapter out by next week.

The next chapter will be detailing what happens during Ranko's testing and what that will mean for her and Team 8.


	10. Chapter 10

Author: Riniko22

Notes: The Characters and Places within this story are not mine, and remain the property of their respected owners. As such, I do not own them, nor am I making any money off them. So sad, honored reader, this very tragic tale of penniless author that fell into the spring of drowned …

The characters in this story will likely not act the same as in canon (written or video), so do not flame me about this. Some will have grown up with different influences on them leading them to react in different ways. Advice is always welcome.

Hitotsu ni suru

Chapter 10

"Alright girls, before I pair you off, I want to get a baseline of Ranko's abilities first. I have already studied the files on the rest of you girls before the Hokage selected the teams, so that I could be prepared. But, none-the-less I will want to see what each of you girls can do in person," Kurenai said while briefly making direct eye contact with each of the four girls. Each of them knew that she expected them to give their best and not to hold back.

"Now, Ranko, I want you to begin by going to that mark and targeting the training dummy with your ranged weapons." Kurenai misunderstanding the look that came over Ranko's face paused to add, "Don't worry about the distance Ranko, I just want to get a baseline for now. I will have you move closer afterwards if you do not do well enough."

"What! No, that's not the problem sensei. If anything, the range is to close. Weapons are not my strongest point, but I understand the need for them." Ranko stammered out quickly, as she attempted to cover her embarrassment over having someone think that she needed to be closer.

"Let me be the judge of that Ranko. If you can hit the target at this range I will move you back to the next mark," Kurenai replied softly so as not to pressure the girl to much. She really didn't expect anymore from the girl than was average for the others and was beginning light so as not to put to great a pressure on her. She knew what the academy put out, and figured she would have her hands full retraining the girls to acceptable standards.

Ranko recognized that it would be a waste of time to argue the point further. Therefore, she reached down to the weapon pouches strapped to each of her thighs and palmed a handful of kunai and shuriken. Flipping one of each up into the air and catching them on their downward arc, she was able to gauge the weight and balance of each weapon. It came as a little surprise from her borrowed memories from Naruto how different they seemed from the ones he had always used. Their weight and balance were perfect, not fluctuating between each weapon with wildly different centers of gravity. She promised herself that the merchants responsible would rue the day that they cheated Naruto. At least the merchants that sold her these had never meet Naruto, they may have been no better, but at least she could pretend otherwise.

Kurenai watched her newest kunoichi charge reached down and pulled several weapons from her equipment pouch. She was mildly disappointed to note that her stance did not seem centered and that Ranko appeared to be trying to show off by using two different weapons at the same time. She expected the results to be a spread of badly thrown projectiles with only a few even striking the target. The girl's training had been worse than she feared.

The three younger kunoichi watched their new friend gauging the quality of the weapons in her hands. Then throw one of each weapon at the target one after the other. Once, it seemed that she was satisfied that they were going to land where she planned, her hands began to move at higher speeds throwing the weapons at the target as she began to flow though a complicated kata. Not one of the weapons that flew from her hands left with the same trajectory, but each impacted the target in a vital area, moving inward from non-lethal areas, like the hands and feet, and moving inward towards the central body. The elbows and knees were the next areas targeted, followed by the shoulder joints and hip joints, and lastly having a pair of kunai sinking deep into the targets eyes with several shuriken sinking into the dummy's neck before it separated from its body, just as she dropped into a finishing stance.

The three girls were left speechless after having watched the new girl move in ways that most of them had never seen. Of the three, only Hinata had had any exposure to anything like this before having seen her cousin Neji, a time or two practicing with his teammates Ten-Ten and Rock Lee. However, even that did not come close to comparing to the beautiful and deadly dance that had pasted before her eyes. It had surprised her so completely that she had even failed to activate her Byakugan.

An outside observer that knew Kurenai well would have been shocked by the expressions that formed on the usually emotionally controlled Jounin's face. She went from normal, to slightly disappointed, and then to a widening look of open mouthed shock. The girl, Ranko, had jumped from a young rookie fresh out of the academy in her eyes to someone displaying the skills of a special jounin at least. She had read the short briefing report that the Hokage had delivered to her and as he had done, dismissed the girl's claims of skill as bragging. However, from want she had just witnessed it now seemed that if anything the girl had been understating her abilities. She was pulling off moves that Kurenai was unsure that Guy would have been able to teach his star student Rock Lee. It looked like the girl was a master of taijutsu and if not also a weapons master she was at the very least an extremely capable user.

When the last of the thrown weapons had left the girls hands, Kurenai watched as Ranko finished by twisting her body in midair and landed in a strange stance, facing the targeting dummy with her glowing hands cupped facing each other in front of her body.

'Glowing hands, what's going on?' She was loudly thinking, before the girl trust her arms forward as a ball of translucent flaming blue energy flew from her hands towards the target. When the ball of energy reached the dummy, the entire area around it ignited in flame, leaving a smoking crater where it once stood.

Ranko decided that after her new sensei had finished talking to her that at least she could make the test a bit more interesting. She had gauged the balance of the weapons and settled into a basic Anything Goes stance designed to throw off an opponent's guard. It was then that she started to pour her soul into the dance, for that was what the art was to her, a wild and at the same time highly controlled dance that could literally sweep away all the stress and worry from her mind and leaving her wholly refreshed afterwards. And, sweep her away it did, she had not realized just how stressed she had been until she started flowing through the moves. Before long, she had lost herself in the music that only she could hear. When her mind finally released her, she could see a somewhat familiar ball of energy leaving her hands and moving in the direction of the targeting dummy. She only thought for a second about how odd it was that the thing looked like it had white hair and a mask over half of its face.

In the office of the Hokage, a crystal ball was showing what was transpiring at that moment to the man sitting at the desk. The man likely would have been calling for his assistant to have Kurenai and Ranko brought to his office if not for one thing. He was out cold. He had been in this state for the last hour, after having pulled his scrying crystal out to checkup on the progress of his newest responsibility Ranko and her teammates. When he had focused in on the girl, she was partially obscured by a stack of empty plates at a restaurant that he had suggested to Kurenai. It had been at that point that the reality of the situation had hit, he had agreed to cover the team's bill.

Kaboom!

After the sound of the explosion began to fade into the sounds of small pieces of debris falling to earth, the five individuals began to react to what had just happened.

"What the hell, just happened?" Ino shouted at Sakura.

"What are you asking me? I'm just as surprised as you are." Sakura shouted back as she used her hand to brush some debris from her hair.

"I. I think that it was a result of the Jutsu that Ranko-chan's used just after she finished throwing her kunai," Hinata stammered out to the other two.

"It can't have been. She not any older than any of us and I know that I have never seen or heard of any jutsu like that being used by a Genin," Ino weakly replied.

"Well what else could it have been. I'm sure I saw Ranko forming her hands in front of her before that ball formed. And, the same thing happened earlier at the clothing store when I tripped and ripped the curtain down," Sakura countered.

"Like hell it did, if that had hit Kakashi-sensei, I don't think there would have been anything left of him," Ino said before she turned a little green at the thought.

Looking over towards the other three girls in her care, Kurenai checked to see that they were all right before running over to check on Ranko.

When she arrived, she could see that the girl was blinking her eyes and staring at where the target dummy used to be, as if she was just as surprised by the result as the rest of them. She reached out and hesitantly put her hand on the young kunoichi's shoulder before asking the girl a question. "Ranko-chan, what did you just do? I have never seen a jutsu like that before, or is it a Kekkei Genkai," she carefully asked.

"I've never had that much force behind my Moko Takabisha before. If I had been able to do that, Saffron would never have stood a chance." The girl weakly said.

"So, it is a Blood Limit ability," Kurenai asked. Reasoning that the girl's power in it had grown since the last time she had manifested the ability."

"I guess you could say that, I don't think anybody else could do that," Ranko supplied, coming back to her senses. Uh, sensei, I have a question."

"Yes, what is it Ranko-chan?" Kurenai answered back.

"Eh, does this mean that I passed the test?" Ranko asked her, while scratching nervously at the back of her neck.

AN:

Well, what do you think? Did you like it? I tried to keep most of the dialog somewhat in character. I do plan on extending the next chapter out more and it will still be here at the training grounds.


End file.
